As you can read in his presentation, Andrea Tiberi is not the classic "only races and badge" athlete, but there is much more.
He is a true adventurer, hidden under the guise of an Olympic athlete. Sometimes he also drags others into his adventures, like when he decided to involve his wife Betti – Elisabetta Eydalinn – in his vision of cycling. The two left Saturday morning from their home in Sauze d'Oulx to start a new adventure, decidedly GRAVEL, which they called "Couple Trip".
“The idea was Betti's.
After all the training done in lockdown on the rollers, she wanted that effort to be destined for something real, and then the idea of a trip was born, together, to rediscover the sense of freedom that we had been missing for a while . And then it's a bit like couples therapy, not in the sense of healing but in the sense of taking care of oneself, in this case, of us. We chose gravel as a vehicle." – two Santa Cruz Stigmata fully equipped with Miss Grape bags, a Tendril 10 liter on the handlebars, an Internode 3 on the frame and the inevitable Cluster 7 under the saddle.
We wanted to travel enough kilometers to reach the sea, but at the same time have the freedom to throw ourselves on some dirt roads and above all to travel the Via del Sale, a long high-altitude dirt road on the border between Liguria, France and Piedmont. Then the pass into France, through the Colle dell'Agnello and then Izoard and Montgenevre, to return to the gates of home”.
The real challenge this time was not mileage or force management, but teamwork.
In fact, Andrea had to proceed respecting Elisabetta's pace, and she had to put up with her husband and his desire to increase the pace. In races or adventures as a couple, what matters most is finding the right harmony and being able to become a real team. Andrea and Elisabetta made it in life, but they weren't sure they could overcome the challenge even on a bicycle.
“Many kilometers and altitude difference that Betti decided to face with a certain amount of courage and in this case my challenge was not so much physical, but rather knowing how to support her and help manage the planned stages. And then to document the journey as best as possible."
They concluded the first stage in Clavesana (CN) in the Langhe.
There couldn't have been a tougher debut. They remained in the saddle for more than six hours, three of which were under incessant pouring rain which put Elisabetta to the test, but also Andrea... You can have all the gas in the world, but the rain bothers everyone. “80 km under water… never a joy”. The next morning they woke up to the sun.
The real challenge this time was not mileage or force management, but teamwork.
In fact, Andrea had to proceed respecting Elisabetta's pace, and she had to put up with her husband and his desire to increase the pace. In races or adventures as a couple, what matters most is finding the right harmony and being able to become a real team. Andrea and Elisabetta made it in life, but they weren't sure they could overcome the challenge even on a bicycle.
“Many kilometers and altitude difference that Betti decided to face with a certain amount of courage and in this case my challenge was not so much physical, but rather knowing how to support her and help manage the planned stages. And then to document the journey as best as possible."
They concluded the first stage in Clavesana (CN) in the Langhe.
There couldn't have been a tougher debut. They remained in the saddle for more than six hours, three of which were under incessant pouring rain which put Elisabetta to the test, but also Andrea... You can have all the gas in the world, but the rain bothers everyone. “80 km under water… never a joy”. The next morning they woke up to the sun.
Once again Andrea Tiberi faced a cycling adventure that was a little out of the ordinary. The cross country athlete is rediscovering himself as an explorer and it is a pleasure to experience his journeys step by step through social media (especially his Instagram account where he recounts his adventures live on Stories).
Their program included arriving in Monesi di Triora, a town located in the Ligurian Alps. Not everything went smoothly, but this is also the beauty of Gravel adventures.
“We set off towards the sea but when planning the route the app we use (Komoot) put us on a dirt stretch which was decidedly MTB rather than gravel, especially due to the fact that the rains had caused some disasters. So we had a bit of trouble and there was a bit of a crisis for Betti, but once we got over the top... downhill she was super.”
They stopped in Monesi di Triora because the high-altitude dirt roads of the Via del Sale start from there. “On paper it was the “Easiest” stage from an altitude point of view, but 50 km of dirt road should never be underestimated, and in fact the pedaling was very good and the scenery was beautiful”.
We took it easy except that within no time a front of black clouds started arriving from the Ligurian side and at that point we started to run away.
Taking water above 2,000 is not a pleasant thing, so we “tarellato” (led) the second half a little more , up to Col di Tenda.” Then they went down to Cuneo and for a few kilometers they cycled among the orchards, their goal was to get as close as possible to Val Varaita.
On the fourth and last day the Alpine stage awaited them: Agnello, Izoard and Montgenevre. 160 km, 4,100m D+, the last effort with a return to their "sweet home" in Oulx.
“After last year's trip ( Dream Lines ) I understood a little that in cycling trips the head counts more than the body;
what matters is knowing how to distance yourself philosophically, knowing how to work hard enough, without exaggerating but with consistency. This is why I had the courage to plan this stage even though Betti, in her life, had never made even remotely such an effort. Because I knew that when she is motivated, she has the head to do everything. And on this trip she was super motivated; in this stage even more, it was the return home, the return to Benny; I admit that I wasn't sure that she would have made it, beyond the stage itself there was the fatigue of the previous days and the weight of the luggage that she never wanted to relieve herself of despite having proposed it to her many times. She wanted to complete her tour "independently". Attacking the Izoard was hard for Elizabeth. That's where she really put her mind to it."
And after passing Montgenevre they returned home, pedaling the last 15 kilometers under the downpour.
In short, an epic four-day trip.
A mini-adventure within the reach of almost everyone, an opportunity to do something different from the usual, without the stress of the stopwatch. Also the demonstration that a few days are enough, two gravel bikes ready for anything, 4 travel bags (Tibi and Betti used the Made in Italy ones by Miss Grape) and so even the forest road behind the house can be the start of something magical.
Find your Couple Therapy too... ride outside your comfort zone.